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"She was walking in the dark," he said, adding that officials told the family, "No matter how experienced you are, that's dangerous."

Sanner's dog, a shepherd mix named Fiona, apparently stayed the night with her before making it back to her car, parked on Panoramic Highway. Someone found the dog and called the number on the tag, reaching Sanner's father.

Sanner worked with the youngest students at the school, which sought to make higher education possible for urban youth, said David Silver, who founded the school and hired Sanner.

"Marie was very kind, she was great with kids, great with families - there is not one person who did not like Marie," he said. "She was a great teacher."

Sanner would invite parents to visit before school to read with their kids, to keep them on track. "She knew you have to do extra to make that happen," Silver said.

Sanner's death was similar in some ways to the case of a Menlo Park woman who died after disappearing from the same area of Mount Tamalpais on March 30. Magdalena Glinkowski, 33, had left a note saying she was going on a hike.

Her car was found April 4 and her body was found April 12, down a steep slope of a drainage area not far from where she was last seen - and not far from where Sanner's body was found.

So far, though, authorities have found no evidence the two deaths are connected. They said that Glinkowski's body showed no obvious signs of trauma, but that her cause of death won't be determined until toxicology tests are complete.

On the mountain Friday afternoon, there were few signs of what had happened. Park managers were not warning hikers, either in person or through signs, as the visitors frolicked amid spring wildflowers.

"We felt pretty safe," said Julie Day, 29, of Petaluma, who hiked with a friend on the Matt Davis Trail near where Sanner's body was found. "You're pretty close to help here."

Niki Borofsky, a 38-year-old San Francisco resident who was enjoying some sun near the Mountain Home Inn, said the timing and circumstances of the women's deaths was a little concerning.

"They both seemed like relatively knowledgeable hikers and young and active," she said.

But Borofsky wasn't about to let the recent events spoil her visit to the park. "At this point," she said, "there's nothing nefarious that would give me pause."